Daredevil: Para Bellum.

PART ONE

ONE

"Children are a gift from the Lord."

Catholic Quote.

The cries of the newborn baby split the air in the hospital maternity ward like a knife, and pierced Matt Murdock's eardrums, making Matt feel as if they were going to explode and give him deafness in both ears. Despite the shrill, sharp pain, he smiled and laughed, and stroked the baby boy's smooth cheek with his hand. The baby was his son.

It was night-time in New York, and the full moon was reflected in the puddles caused by the incessant rain. The rain had stopped for now. The hospital was in Hell's Kitchen, the district where Matt had been raised and lived in all his life. He had never even thought about leaving - it was home, despite the cold, dark, wet streets that were riddled with street-level crime and needles of heroin used by drug addicts with rotting teeth and scarred grins.

The baby boy wailed again as he struggled in Karen Page's arms, kicking and pushing with strong legs. They'd been married six months, not long after she had returned from South America for Matt's help. She could always count on him to be there for her and save her with love and friendship, even from a drug addiction and failed career. With Matt, she felt secure. Karen had returned to work as a secretary at the Nelson & Murdock law office, which was doing very well after their takedown of various criminals and the Kingpin of Crime, Wilson Fisk, who controlled all the nefarious operations around Hell's Kitchen. They hadn't mentioned the name for months, ever since he was incarcerated. Karen feared it was bad luck, and she had become more superstitious as the pregnancy developed.

Matt was blind, and had been since a child not long before his father's death, but he didn't have to see to know that he had the most beautiful wife in the world. Karen had long, blonde hair, one of his favourite things in the world to touch, blue eyes and she was tall. Sitting beside her on the hospital bed, he could smell the sweat from her brow after several hours of childbirth. Her hair was sticking to her neck and forehead. He leaned forward and kissed her gently on the lips, then wiped away the sweat with his hand and fondled her damp hair. He could sense that she was smiling as she looked upon the baby with watery blue eyes, the baby pressed close to her breast protectively.

"This is your daddy, little Jack. He's the most wonderful man in the city - we're very lucky, you know, and he's not a bad lawyer either." Matt chuckled as Karen passed the baby, wrapped in several blankets, carefully into his arms. The baby vomited a little on Matt's neat shirt and tie, but he didn't care about the stain. His fingers ran over the baby's silky hair, brushing it to the side, just like his own style.

"Hello Jack..." he cooed, pressing his hand into the baby's own. "We're your parents. We love you..." Jack was the name of Matt's father, who died when Matt was only a child. Although Matt and his father had only spent a few precious years together, in the slums of Hell's Kitchen, Jack boxing in dirty clubs to scrape enough money to pay the rent, Matt knew he was the best father he could have ever asked for. And he knew, that with Karen, he would be the same to baby Jack.

Tears formed in Matt's eyes and streamed down his cheeks into his short beard. He wished he could see the baby - if there was one minute he could've chosen to see, that would've been it. Karen awwed and wiped the tears away with her pale hand. She leant forward from the large white pillows on the bed and laid a smooth kiss on his cheek. The baby wasn't crying anymore. He was looking around the room, with a curious frown on his face, which was cast in darkness except for the yellow street light coming through the window from outside. There were no nurses or other patients, and they were alone. Matt heard a church clock strike midnight, and loud shouts coming from the streets. A large vehicle drove crazily through the roads. Was anyone in danger? He couldn't detect any heartbeats near the vehicle...